Johannes Gutenberg: Invention of the Printing Press-The Incunable Era The printing press was the single most important invention of the fifteenth century decisively leading to the low cost publication of books, an increase in literacy, and generational strides in the humanities. Gutenberg's invention contributed to the Renaissance, promoted the Protestant Reformation, and made publicly available arcane knowledge reserved for the clergy or wealthy elites. Prior to the revolution of the printing press, scribes and learned clergy were the only ones with the skill to arduously copy by hand the intricate scrolls to preserve and transmit knowledge to the precious few who had the means to afford such luxuries. Within one generation printing presses appeared in the most distant corners of Western Europe, and the cost of books had been cut by two-thirds or more. The political and economic implications of this rise in literacy changed the social structure of Western Europe with the dissemi...